There’s been a lot of of news coverage in the past day about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to suspend final issuance of license renewals and new operating licenses.

A recent federal court decision overruled the NRC’s “waste confidence decision” because it lacked an environmental impact study, and the commission will not make any final decisions on new licenses until they have addressed the court’s remand.

While many are under the impression that this decision could force some reactors to shut down or delay the opening of any new ones, this is not necessarily the case.

As Platts Nuclear News noted: NRC commissioners voted unanimously August 7 to allow reviews to continue of applications for new reactors and for renewals of existing ones, but not to make final decisions pending resolution of the agency’s waste confidence rule overturned by a court in June.”

The order “does not affect previous licensing decisions,” said NRC spokesman David McIntyre.